How Social Media Is Changing Paid, Earned & Owned Media

Roman Sierra, at Genepsis Media, pointed out this very interesting article by Laura Drell.

I recommend the whole article but the point is:

At this point in social media, we pretty much have metrics along the entire purchase pathway,” Wolinetz says. “We know the amount of eyeballs that something hits and how far it spreads.”

Whether it’s better to get X million hits on one post of earned media on Perez Hilton or the same number of impressions spread over 25 different sites comes down to the campaign. “Depending on your objective, one would be more important than the other,” says Wolenitz.

Hougland adds that we’re getting to the point where there are different performance metrics for each point along the marketing funnel. You can determine your effectiveness at achieving a goal, whether it’s brand health, brand awareness, brand preference or intent to buy, says Valentine. Owens puts it bluntly: Did we drive more leads and sell more cars? Did more people book hotel rooms? Do people have a better perception of the brand?

As more consumers get on board with social media, generating earned media through social shares will become an even higher priority. And that means paid and owned media — and the teams that manage each — will need to work together even more seamlessly. The barriers of the silos are broken, and they’re only going to crumble more.